AJSki2fly
31-03-2017, 13:48
Having upgraded my turntable and amplifier, the last on the list was the speakers, I have had a pair of Dali Ikon 6 mk2 for several years and they have done me very well, but were a bit stretched getting true reproduction with my turntable and mono-block 300B amps. So some months ago I started searching for what might work well, after many discussions and listening to speakers the manufacturer of the Renaissance RA01 amps suggested I tried the Wilson Benesch ARC's, which they regularly used.
I searched around and found a pair of demo ones that Bob Hesketh had at his shop Tavistock Audio. So a few weeks ago I went along for a listen. I took along about 8 LP's having pre-selected a track from each to listen to which would get the speakers working and I would be able to assess, top, mid, bass, soundstage, voice reproduction, separation and attack. At the same time I intended to demo some PMC speakers as well. Bob was extremely helpful, he sat me down in a chair and suggested I moved it into a similar position to my home environment, and then left me to it to change records and my scoring spreadsheet. He just kept supplying me coffee. After two and half hours of listening to the ARC's, PMC 21 and 23's my mind was made up, it had to be the ARC's. Bob agreed to hold onto them for several weeks while I sorted the funds out, and we negotiated a very good price for them.
Today I went to Tavistock Audio to collect, I got back home safely and have set up the Wilson Benesch ARC speakers. They not only look good, I think my wife will be pleased with that at least, they sound fantastic. I am going through my original listening tracks used when I listened at the shop, trouble is I get an album on and then just end up listening to more of it. So far they are scoring very high, averaging between 95-100%, and they are not even bedded in. I just cannot get over how natural sounding they are, close your eyes and they just do not exist, just the music. They work extremely well with my Renaissance RA01 300B Mono-block valve amps. I heard them at Tavistock Audio with a Naim Nait amp and they also worked well with that.
Bob gave me some great help and advice, allowed me to asses everything and was in no way pushy, a great experience compared to some hifi dealers I have been to. He also helped me out with the longer Chord Epic cables, very much appreciated. If I am tempted to do any upgrading then I will certainly be going back to Tavistock Audio and will not hesitate to recommend to my friends.
I searched around and found a pair of demo ones that Bob Hesketh had at his shop Tavistock Audio. So a few weeks ago I went along for a listen. I took along about 8 LP's having pre-selected a track from each to listen to which would get the speakers working and I would be able to assess, top, mid, bass, soundstage, voice reproduction, separation and attack. At the same time I intended to demo some PMC speakers as well. Bob was extremely helpful, he sat me down in a chair and suggested I moved it into a similar position to my home environment, and then left me to it to change records and my scoring spreadsheet. He just kept supplying me coffee. After two and half hours of listening to the ARC's, PMC 21 and 23's my mind was made up, it had to be the ARC's. Bob agreed to hold onto them for several weeks while I sorted the funds out, and we negotiated a very good price for them.
Today I went to Tavistock Audio to collect, I got back home safely and have set up the Wilson Benesch ARC speakers. They not only look good, I think my wife will be pleased with that at least, they sound fantastic. I am going through my original listening tracks used when I listened at the shop, trouble is I get an album on and then just end up listening to more of it. So far they are scoring very high, averaging between 95-100%, and they are not even bedded in. I just cannot get over how natural sounding they are, close your eyes and they just do not exist, just the music. They work extremely well with my Renaissance RA01 300B Mono-block valve amps. I heard them at Tavistock Audio with a Naim Nait amp and they also worked well with that.
Bob gave me some great help and advice, allowed me to asses everything and was in no way pushy, a great experience compared to some hifi dealers I have been to. He also helped me out with the longer Chord Epic cables, very much appreciated. If I am tempted to do any upgrading then I will certainly be going back to Tavistock Audio and will not hesitate to recommend to my friends.